Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the complexity associated with Thai Visas. I am always kind of fascinated how Immigration and Tax Law are very similar insofar as they are a very narrow body of law but they are deep, they are very deep quite honestly. I mean US Immigration, the code, the INA, everything about it, it is complicated. Thai Immigration, as we have discussed in many other videos, can be very, very Byzantine in certain ways. Different offices have slightly different protocols. It can be confusing for somebody who deals with it for the first time.  

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Pattaya Expats lobby Thai Prime Minister for better Visa treatment. Quoting directly: "Expat Visas in Thailand are now a complex field of options, each with its own set of rules. More recent choices have been aimed at wealthier foreigners or those prepared to pay lavishly up front for a specific number of years. As regards the traditional one year extensions of stay based on retirement and marriage, there are thought to be at least 300,000 mostly male visa holders including a sizable number financially supporting Thai wives and family." I am kind of curious on that 300,000 number, because I remember back in 2018 when I think numbers of Expats was probably higher, although maybe not - maybe post-COVID we have actually seen higher numbers of expats, maybe lower numbers of tourists. But I remember back then there were only, and there was like a UN document I remember reading at the time that said that there are about 85,000 people in Thailand at that time in Retirement Visa status with roughly another 10-15,000 in some form of Marriage Visa status, so about 100,000 people at that time. Very curious if we are up to 300. We could be, it wouldn't shock me at all in fact and especially we may have seen over the past few years a number of folks who used to come out here on Tourist Visa status or utilize the exemption scheme, those folks may have retired now and now they are living in Thailand in proper Retirement Visas.

That said, quite honestly I mean the standard Non-Immigrant Visa categories, the standard Non-Immigrant O Retirement Visa, Non-Immigrant O Marriage Visas remain options. It is not like these things have been done away with; it is still possible to maintain status with the O Visa categories. Thailand has just added on new ones - again Thailand Elite for example now, again Thailand Elite for example, now called Thailand Privilege apparently. Then you are also dealing with certain things like down in the EEC there are 10 year Visas, so-called Smart Visas, LTR Visas, all of that kind of good stuff. So again the notion that these older visas are being kind of phased out doesn't seem, well I don't think anybody is saying they are being phased out, but yeah it is complex but at the end of the day, the options that have always been on the table, at least the time that I have been here, the 16 years I have been here, remain on the table.